MONTREAL – Francis Carmont is still unbeaten in the octagon, but even he might not be able to tell you exactly why.

Carmont was on defense for most of his 15-minute affair with Tom Lawlor and ended the opening two rounds caught in a submission attempt. Yet somehow, he walked away with a split-decision result.

The middleweight bout was part of Saturday’s UFC 154 main card at Montreal’s Bell Centre. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Southpaw Lawlor wasted little time pushing inside and working into a clinch position in the opening round. However, the position was a stalemate, and the pair was restarted in the center, where Carmont capitalized with a few chopping kicks to the body. Lawlor again pressed inside and looked for a takedown, but Carmont was again up for the challenge and even threatened with a kimura while defending his opponent’s advances.

Lawlor had his best moment of the round in the closing seconds, as Carmont shot in for a takedown and fell into an arm-in guillotine position. While blood trickled from Carmont’s mouth, he refused to tap and survived to the second round.

Carmont looked comfortable to open the second, and he utilized his reach to land kicks from distance while trying to set up a big right hand. Lawlor finally earned a takedown late in the round, but Carmont returned to his feet without taking much damage. Still, Lawlor refused to quit in the final minute and again found an arm-in guillotine choke attempt, though it wasn’t quite as close as the one to end the first.

Carmont opened the third with more powerful kicks, but Lawlor walked through the blows and pushed his opponent against the cage. Carmont never looked in any real danger in the slow-paced fight, but he also never showed any real sense of urgency. Neither fighter absorbed much damage, but Carmont seemed to be on defense through most of the fight. Still, he was awarded an odd split-decision victory that was booed by the Canadian contingency.

So odd was the score and so slow the fight, UFC President Dana White took to Twitter to voice his displeasure.

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